A Universe of Adventure

Book Titles

Summary:Millennia ago, Greece, Egypt and other ancient civilizations underwent industrial revolutions beneath a sky that, in a blink of history, burgeoned into life and mystery… Take flight on airships, balloons and wooden rockets. Soar with winged hoplites, exiled princesses, explorers and philosophers. Witness the struggle for equality, freedom and power like you never have before.

After the Ruin by Harriet Goodchild

Summary:What is the price of a man’s life? An apple? A sword? A kingdom? There are many ways to leave a life in ruins. But ruined lives go on, and so, after the ruin, there is love, sweet as roses on a summer’s evening. But love is such a little thing, no stronger than a candleflame at noontime. For, after the ruin, Averla, fire made flesh, is hiding in the light. She will use lover against lover, sister against brother, father against son, to build again her kingdom of everlasting fire. Love is not enough to set against her fierce desire, as well seek to turn back the tide with a wall of sand.

“This refreshing debut is an impeccably paced, well-thought-out work of high fantasy….” –Publishers Weekly

A Villa Far From Rome by Sheila Finch – A Historical Novel

Historical Novels Review Editors’ Selection; A homesick , sixteen-year-old Roman girl and her illegitimate child, exiled by the Emperor Nero to Britannia. A middle-aged Celtic king of an insignificant tribe, trying to find middle ground between Celtic tradition and Roman rule and making enemies on both sides. The shadow of martyred Queen Boudicca like a curse on the land. An old Legionary willing to give his life for a friend, and a former Greek slave with a secret past. And an overbearing Roman architect trying to build a copy of one of the most glorious palaces in Rome in a backwater of the Empire – What could go wrong?

Bad Bishop by Irene Soldatos – A Historical Fantasy

Summary: For those who live agelessly in the shadows of the world, sustained by blood, history is not something that happened to other people. In Twelfth century Europe, a web is spun in those shadows to contain the ambitions of an immortal emperor. But, when history is a memory, the greatest danger comes from what has been forgotten.

From Publishers Weekly: “… The heavily academic and historical nature of the setting may make it inaccessible except to those readers who have a burning desire to sink their teeth into something incredibly dense and colorful.”

The Artifacts: A Flint Hills Story by Eric T. Reynolds, A Time-Slip Historical Novel

From D. Donovan, Senior Reviewer, Midwest Book Review:

“Thoroughly engrossing is a story that moves smoothly between eras as the protagonist and others investigate a mystery that draws them to pre-1885 Flint Hills, before Sycamore Falls existed.”

The abandoned house in the country. In a state of decay, its walls have witnessed the triumphs and tragedies of generations. There’s nothing left but memories forgotten. If you believe that, you haven’t been inside. . .

Kayla buys a house in the Flint Hills town of Sycamore Falls, Kansas. The dilapidated house out back has a library with dusty old books. Pulling several from the shelf take her back to the years the books were published. The anomaly helps her gain insight to the old house’s past and perhaps ways to revitalize the town which has seen better times.

Three Great Lies by Vanessa MacLellan – An Egyptian Historical Fantasy

“While vacationing in Egypt. . .Jeannette Walker, a cynical scientist jaded by swarms of tour groups and knick-knack shacks, is lured by a teenage tour guide to visit a newly discovered tomb. No other tourists there! Inside the chamber, she tumbles down a shaft and 3000 years back in time.” –PW

The Best of Abyss & Apex: Volume 1

Booklist Review: There’s a little of everything in this prose and verse collection, from a story in which explorers discover intelligent life that turns out to be the weather to a time-travel wiki in which new participants neglect to pay attention to one key detail, over and over again. And although big-name contributors are few (do relative newcomers Jay Lake and Tim Pratt count as such yet?), the quality of the contents is consistently extraordinary. They’re the likes of Lisa Mantchev’s “Interfaith,” a touching story about a child whose parents belong to two rather different cultures and the problems of a goddess raising a god’s daughter; Jason L. Corner’s “The Knife,” in which humans must learn to live with an alien culture and some difficult rites of passage; and Justin Stanchfield’s “God’s Guitar,” in which an angel appears with a message about a particular pawnshop item. Even the shortest pieces—and some of those are haiku—excellently exemplify the sense of wonder that’s key to speculative fiction. –Regina Schroeder

Chasing Cold by Stephen Graham King

Summary: On the tiny, frozen world of Frostbite, Rogan Tyso is the Mailmail, responsible for the communications array that keeps his home in contact with the other human Refuges scattered across known space. It has been a century since the Cluster–the great union of Earth-like colonies–fell to an alien race known only as the Flense, and human civilization has been reduced to an afterthought. Rogan’s correspondence with Nathe Mylan, a man thousands of light years away, offers him both the possibility of a love he has never found, and a chance to work on a project that may help humanity escape the influence of the Flense for good.

Fire and Sword by Louise Turner

Summary: On the 11th of June in 1488, two armies meet in battle at Sauchieburn, near Stirling. One fights for King James the Third of Scotland, the other is loyal to his eldest son, Prince James, Duke of Rothesay. Soon, James the Third is dead, murdered as he flees the field. His army is routed. Among the dead is Sir Thomas Sempill of Ellestoun, Sheriff of Renfrew, whose son and heir, John, es. Once John’s career as knight and courtier seemed assured. But with the death of his king, his situation is fragile. He’s the only surviving son of the Sempill line and he’s unmarried. If he hopes to survive, John must try and win favour with the new king. And deal with the ruthless and powerful Lord Montgomerie…

Footprints edited by Jay Lake and Eric T. Reynolds

Booklist Review: “Such variety assures continual interest…the authors…certainly know their craft.” Long after our species and all its works have turned to dust, the Moon-landing sites will still show evidence of our time here on Earth. Imagine future explorers from among the stars interpreting that. The astronauts’ footprints should last longer than the fossils in the Olduvai Gorge. Here are twenty-one views of that. Stories by Brenda Cooper, James Van Pelt, Lawrence M. Schoen, Heather McDougal, and more. Edited by Jay Lake and Eric T. Reynolds. Presented by Hadley Rille Books.

Golden Age SF edited by Eric T. Reynolds

Summary: New stories written as if during science fiction’s Golden Age. Far off planets, aliens, time travel, retro-future technologies and rocket ships with fins. Golden Age stories by Stephen Baxter, Terry Bisson, Terry Bramlett, Tobias S. Buckell, Tom Dupree, James Gunn, Max Habilis, Paul E. Martens, Will McDermott, G. David Nordley, Alan Purestem, Mike Resnick, Rudy Rucker, Robert Sheckley, Justin Stanchfield and Trent Walters, presented by Hadley Rille Books, Edited by Eric T. Reynolds.The Golden Age: that fascinating era when science fiction grew up. It was the era that transformed a generation into believing in many of the things we take for granted today–the genre that inspired thousands of future scientists and engineers. From the twenty-first century we travel back to the Golden Age and imagine the future again, as the dreamers did.

Ice Magic, Fire Magic by Shauna Roberts

Summary: In the sentient land of Veridia, Fila dreams of a simple future: using her women’s magic of creation to help the Toiler people of the countryside. But when Veridia loses its Servant, the human conduit linking Veridia and its peoples, it chooses her daughter—Fila—as its new Servant.

Mourning her mother and her lost dreams and doubting her worthiness, Fila sets out for the capital to be invested. On her journey, assassins attack, sent by a usurper with corrupted magic. Fila escapes with the help of two unlikely allies: Celatu, a secretive scholar who has renounced his male magic of destruction, and Shadow, an ancient evil spirit who is eager to help Fila . . . for a price.

When those she trusts most betray her, Fila must draw on her own resources to reach the capital to fight the usurper to attain her destiny as Servant . . . a destiny she doesn’t even want.

“…Roberts presents fully fleshed-out characters whose histories provide meaning to their motivations, and the plot moves along nicely as the drama unfolds. The denouement may be short on surprises, but the journey there is wholly satisfying.”-Publishers Weekly

King’s Gambit by Mark Nelson

Summary: The subtle victories of summer have faded beneath a winter of Northern occupation. King Roderran’s invasion plans have ripened. His soldiers muster the Pevanese into their ranks, churn fallow fields into mud, and turn the region into an armed camp. Come spring, there will be war. The King’s arrival launches a flurry of preparations that sets the already turbulent city on edge. Prince Donari must contend with rumors of assassination, the disrespect of his liege-lord cousin, and the manipulations of the Lord Prelate Byrnard Casan. Trapped between fealty and treason, Donari faces impossible decisions. He must save his city and those closest to him. Somehow. The coming storm will test the poets of Pevana in ways none of them could have foreseen. Poetry will not win this time–swords and spears will have their day–but Donari and Eleni, Devyn and Talyior must keep their faith in words to walk the tenuous paths between loyalty and betrayal, freedom and servitude, hope and despair.

“…Fans of the first book will undoubtedly enjoy revisiting the characters and politics of Pevana, and Nelson does a solid job of making his world accessible to new readers as well.”-Publishers Weekly

The Last Outpost and Other Tales by Z.S. Adani

Summary: Stories from the edge of space to the edge of consciousness… DNA theft means death in a society where people live encased within individual energy suits… The only survivor in an alien attack, Reus must deliver intelligence to the Inner League planets. Stuck on an alien station, all he needs to do is survive to fulfill his duty… Spore is a penal planet inhabited by ruthless psychopaths and some of their descendents in “A Fistful of Tassels.” When a spacecraft crashes onto the world, Ataki, born of a convicted criminal, rescues the sole survivor from the canibs. Is criminal tendency really a genetic trait passed down to offsprings? As Jon is the only innocent on Spore, Ataki wants him to survive the deadly conditions and contribute his genes to his Tribe… In “Tomb” explorers land on the planet of the same name and find an ancient menace that must be destroyed at any cost.

Left-Hand Gods by Jamie Lackey

Summary: Elizabeth Avigaline has spent her whole life hiding because of the magic in her blood, a gift to left-handed people from the Left-Hand Gods. People like Beth have been hated, feared, and burned at the stake in Cadarnfel for over three hundred years, ever since magic broke the old Empire. But the new Queen is left-handed, and things are finally changing. Beth leaves the safety of her home and travels to Cadarnfel’s plague-ravaged capital with her unwanted fiancé, her scheming mother, and Solas Brightwind, a handsome mage sent to fetch her. Soon after Beth arrives, Dumarion, the only left-handed dragon, arrives with a warning. An army of demons is preparing to attack the city on the night of the next new moon. The demons won’t stop after destroying the city–the fate of the entire world rests on the defenders’ shoulders, and they have less than a month to prepare.

Life Without Crows by Gerri Leen

Summary: Life Without Crows, the new collection by Gerri Leen. Journey to faraway places, go back to the beginning, travel to the future…sink into two dozen stories that range from dark to light, fantasy to everyday, short-shorts to novelettes.

“The stories are full of voice and cleverness.”- Brenda Cooper
“You’ll be hearing a lot more from Gerri Leen.” – Mike Resnick
“Gerri Leen is about to lead you on one heck of a journey.” – Dayton Ward
“Delivers hours of fascinating reading.” – Z.S. Adani

Like Mayflies in a Stream by Shauna Roberts

Summary: In the great city of Uruk, there is no peace when Gilgamesh is restless, and he is never at rest. Shamhat, a priestess of Inanna, goes into the wilderness to find and civilize a match for Uruk’s violently active God-King. Like Mayflies in a Stream brings new life to the Epic of Gilgamesh, diving into one of the earliest conflicts between civilization and wilderness, civic order and freedom, romance and sexuality. A book of the Hadley Rille Books Archaeology Series.

“An exciting and very human story, set in a fascinating time and place—the dawn of civilization—all brought expertly to life.”–Kim Stanley Robinson“Crisp writing and fascinating characters make Like Mayfiles in a Stream a
compelling read.”–Sabrina Jeffries“A totally fascinating, engrossing, and absorbing story…”–Lynna Banning“An impressive evocation of a fascinating time and place. Shauna Roberts
is a gifted writer…”–Laura Joh Rowland“Roberts’s historical fiction will give you a sense of the long and rich history
of the ‘cradle of civilization.'”–Richard L. Zettler, Associate Professor, Near Eastern Languages &
Civilization, University of Pennsylvania

Nightingale by Melissa Mickelsen

Barnes & Noble Summary: In a land of vast forests and clustered cities, humans and anthelai live in uneasy proximity. Forced deep into the wilds, the anthelai are feared and hated. They are perceived as monsters, servants of the dark god Enas, master of the hell-like Plains of Centura. Halfbloods, the children of two species, are extremely rare. The blood does not mix easy, but when it does, the result belongs to neither side. They are outcasts. Anathema. Pariah.

The lone survivor of an attack that destroys her home and family, one halfblood girl is captured by a man bent on transforming her into a deadly assassin. Guildmaster Lorcen Caspon hopes that her demon-like presence at his side will aid him in conquering a kingdom. Bound by magic to work her master’s dark plan, the woman, known only as the Nightingale, silently vows her revenge.

She has lost her home, family, freedom, and even her name. But the Nightingale is stronger than anyone realizes, and she will not break.

The Northern Queen by Kim Vandervort

The sequel to Kim Vandervort’s critically-acclaimed first novel, The Song and the Sorceress. Two short years have passed since Princess Ki’leah Alrhiane Del’Sivahr solved the ancient riddle that prevented Lyarra Val’rahimir from gaining a dangerous foothold on Si’vad-hardly enough time to prepare for the responsibilities of ruling a kingdom. Nevertheless, with her mother ailing from the same illness that felled her father, Ki’leah must assume her birthright as Queen of Si’vad. When evidence reaches her of an ancient threat gathering on her southern border, Ki’leah is forced to make a difficult and dangerous choice: one that could irrevocably alter the futures of everything-and everyone-she holds dear.

Origins: Tales of Human Evolution edited by Eric Reynolds

Summary: ORIGINS commemorates the 150th anniversary of the publication of Charles Darwin’s The Origin of Species with seven novelettes, each taking place at a specific time during hominid history. Stories by Mike Resnick, Jenny Blackford, Camille Alexa, Max Habilis, Z.S. Adani, Lezli Robyn, Gerri Leen. Edited by Eric T. Reynolds.

Outcast by Kim Vandervort

Summary: Who is killing the street scats of Endelas Ortanos? After running the streets for most of his life, Skerth knows to avoid rival scats and skin traders, but this is something new. These killings are more than random acts of violence. All the victims are nearly fifteen summers old, orphans and outcasts-just like he is. Just like the lost heir to the throne. Dodging the city’s Caretakers, a rival street gang, and a handful of pirates working their own dark plans, Skerth trusts no one but his friend and secretive fellow scat, Kiri. Together, they forge unlikely alliances in an attempt to stop the killings. But as Skerth joins forces with a mysterious loyalist and moves further into danger, memories emerge… Ash and roses. A ring. A ball. And familiar faces he can’t possibly remember. Or does he?

Poets of Pevana by Mark Nelson

Summary: Civil unrest threatens to disrupt Pevana’s yearly Summer Festival. The wealthy merchant class works with the reform-minded priests of the King’s Theology to prepare for war in the south. Old Ways Temples burn. Priests harass citizens in the cobbled streets. For Donari Avedun, Prince of Pevana, it is not just a revel in ruins, but his city, his crown, perhaps even his life. To do nothing ensures losing even the semblance of power; to act risks open rebellion Donari knows he cannot win.

Donari overhears something during the duel of words in the poets’ competition, a highlight of the Summer Festival. The duelling poets, Talyior Enmbron and Devyn Ambrose, risk their lives with their impassioned words while Donari realizes life is not always about winning, but rather doing what one must, regardless of the consequences.

The Priestess and the Slave by Jenny Blackford

Summary: A tale of honor and dishonor, of love, pain, madness, and endurance, told with painstaking historical and archaeological accuracy. Set in Classical Greece in the fifth century BC, The Priestess and the Slave conveys the extraordinary history of the time through the eyes of two narrators – a Delphic Pythia deeply embroiled in the political turmoil earlier in the century, and a young slavewoman, some decades later, living through the terrible plague in Athens and the seemingly endless war against the invincible hoplites of Sparta. Vivid, gritty, and emotionally moving.

“It’s such a joy to read a historical novel written by an author who has such
authority over her material. Jenny Blackford’s first novel The Priestess and
the Slave brilliantly recreates the politics, culture, and mindset of ordinary and
extraordinary people caught up in extraordinary circumstances. I can only
wait impatiently to discover what treasures her next novel will reveal.”
– Jack Dann, bestselling author of The Memory Cathedral, and The Silent.

Ruins Extraterrestrial edited by Eric T. Reynolds

Summary: We’ve landed, and across the valley, standing sharply against the distant gray range, are the blocky white ruins. The early probes had only provided us low-resolution glimpses of their alien architecture. We are eager to explore, but we must be careful. Kicking around in an abandoned extraterrestrial complex could be analogous to a curious prehistoric human poking around an abandoned twentieth century steel mill. One wrong move and the early human encounters disastrous results. Even the best trained future archaeologist, intrigued by the towering spires of Epsilon Eridani, must first perform careful analysis by remote sensing to determine the properties of the structures. Best to have an idea of what’s there before treading on grounds that last had activity when our ancestors first discovered fire.

Ruins Terra edited by Eric T. Reynolds

Summary: In this book we present twenty-five stories and a poem about many kinds of human ruins from all over the world. You will find several genres represented including science fiction, fantasy, horror, gothic and mainstream. Each deals with how humans make sense of the ruins around them, whether natural or artificial.

Shapers’ Veil by M.C. Chambers

Summary: Kawi loves the wind. Eldest of the shapeshifting Shenmir, he embraces his winged hawk form and ignores his two-legged form that once walked and spoke with earthbound races. He soars alone in pure flight at the coldest edge of the region protected by the Shapers’ Veil. But the parasitic Shapers grow hungry.

She Wrote on Clay by Shirley Graetz

Summary: 3,800 years ago, in the city of Sippar, on the banks of the Euphrates, lltani dreams of becoming a female scribe, a profession dominated by men. In order to fulfill her destiny, she enters the gagû to become a nadītu, an elite class of monastic women. But life is not so simple and misfortunes threaten her goal. On the verge of despair, it takes all her strength to continue the difficult journey.

The Song and the Sorceress by Kim Vandervort

Booklist Review: This coming-of-age epic maintains its dramatic tension from the first scene. Vandervort imbues each of the novel’s scenes with a fine sense of historical detail, from costumes to courtly behavoir, even as she builds a plausible world of magic…Vandervort’s dynamic characters, surprising story turns, and unabashed romance will leave readers eager to follow the continued adventures of this sword-wielding princess.” The Song and the Sorceress, by Kim Vandervort, the first book in the series: Journey with nineteen-year-old Ki’leah Alrhiane Del’Sivahr, who flees an isolated life as High Princess of Si’vad to escape an arranged marriage and run away with the Palace Bard. When he fails to meet her, fate sweeps Ki’leah into an alliance with a band of men and women known as the Fey-Velahr. Despite her doubts and inadequacies, Ki’leah soon discovers that she is a useful accessory to the quest, a vital member-for she alone possesses information, carefully guarded within the lore of her royal ancestors, that could unlock the mystery.

Song of the Swallow by K.L. Townsend

Summary: Like most young women in late thirteenth century China, Feiyan dreams of living a respectable life, finding a good husband, and honoring her family. Only those dreams end when she is swept from her home to become one of Emperor Duzong’s many concubines. As she struggles to adjust to her new environment, she is befriended by the enigmatic Hu Yuxiu, who helps Feiyan navigate the murky waters of court life, the tedious rules of entertainment, and the hardships of foot binding. Feiyan grows to know the dismal existence between palace walls, the long days of waiting and long nights of limbo. Until Yuxiu shows her a booklet that changes her life forever.

Theatre of Curious Acts by Cate Gardner

Summary: Daniel Cole wants the world to end. Returned home from the Great War, his parents and brother in their graves, Daniel walks a ghost world. When players in a theatre show lure Daniel and his friends, fellow soldiers, into a surreal otherworld they find themselves trapped on an apocalyptic path. A pirate ship waits to ferry some of them to the end of the world, helmed by Death. Already broken by war, these men are now the world’s only hope in the greatest battle of all.

Thrall by Kimberly Todd Wade

Summary: Hoolow knows he is different from his tribemates. He not only loves the dark-eyed girl, he wants to possess her. When jealousy turns to tragedy, Hoolow embarks on a self-imposed exile. He learns valuable lessons about what it means to be human while experiencing visions in a dark cave, but he feels drawn to return to his tribe, where a new generation of young people has discovered “themselves.” How will he cope as one among a group of individuals, where the tribe is no longer “whole”?

“This is certainly a story to turn the mental gears.”- Publishers Weekly

Transcendence by Christopher McKitterick

Summary: Humankind rushes toward self-destruction and must evolve or die. Our perspective: a scientist exploring an alien artifact on Triton, a teen-aged hacker in a city gone mad, three actors manipulated into igniting interplanetary war, the de-facto ruler of half the solar system, a soldier fighting in Africa to entertain his audience, an artificial intelligence facing personal crisis, and a cast of billions.